Tuesday, August 8, 2017

The Angel of my Life, my mother passed away on July 3rd. This was a day which I never expected would happen. She was a very strong woman and was battling cancer since last year. Things seemed to be encouraging as she was able to cope up with the Chemo and the Radio sessions since September 2016.

She actually felt a tumour and figured out it must be something serious. The biopsy confirmed it as breast cancer. She was operated within a week, and the tumour removed. It had already spread to the lymph nodes by then. Initially, she had the same apprehension and a bit of depression about what had come upon her at her age of 68 - but her determination allowed her to go through all of the treatments. I did not get a chance to visit her since my last visit to India in 2015.

But with the level of self-confidence she had, I had her assurance that she was doing well. Meanwhile, I think God had other plans for her. A sudden brain haemorrhage at multiple locations did not give her a chance to revive - With only the heart functioning, the only option for her was to be put on ventilator support.

When I visited her in the ICU, I could not see her in that state with all the pipes going down her throat. She must have been suffering even then at that point internally due to the setup. I did not want to see her in that state and was the first to take a decision about removing her life support system. My siblings agreed to the same on the next day after taking second opinions. The doctors also could not notice any response to the medication.

The last 40 days have been a blur, I still cannot believe what has happened. May be, I'll miss her presence once I go back to the US

Monday, March 6, 2017

I switched to an iPhone. T- mobile made this happen. And no, I am not blaming them, but in some way thanking them for acting as a catalyst to take this decision. This was not a conscious decision either . Months ago, I wanted to upgrade to the S7 edge. The reason behind this was that I needed a decent point and shoot camera - and was not looking to buy a DSLR yet.

The only time I got to know about the Dual camera setup for the iPhone was during a random read on one of the phone review websites. Until then, I was either routing for a Pixel XL or the S7 Edge. People who know me well would vouch that I am an Android guy all along and was never really into anything "applish" .

The one experience which I had constantly faced with Android was its sluggish performance as time went by. Those were the periods when applish friends would abhor that - " Your Android phone looks like a cheap Chinese model" . They would boast how fast their Apple phone was, and that how the experience was always "optimized" - snappy irrespective of apps running on the phone. I always liked my Galaxy Note 3, not only because it was a 3 year old phone already by the time I brought it in 2015, but because it was my mother's gift. I know Samsung's cameras were always good and the Note 3 was no different.

So, coming back to present time - T-mobile had an offer where they would provide 0$ down payment for customers who would pay their bills on time. Neither the S7 nor the iPhone were included in this offer. But with a one time price tag of 380$, it was a sweet deal to get the S7 Edge. My sister who uses AT&T brought the same model for 760$. I go to the store, deciding to get the S7, and then I hear all the voices where my apple friends were boasting in my back head. And bam! without even trying out, I ordered a JetBlack iPhone 7plus. Why Jet black? Because I kept reading articles which mentioned that this model had a waiting time - so there must be something good about it right?

One week on, I have not regretted the switch to this platform which I have alienated for so long. The phone is blazingly fast and I can actually experience what my friends were mentioning all along. I should also mention that occasionally when I use my Note 3 (For reading Quora in the loo), I cannot emphasize how much I am loving this experience and don't regret the switch from the platform I was so loyal to and to something which I am looking forward to explore.